Satish K. Tripathi, the longest-serving president to lead the University at Buffalo since it joined the SUNY system in 1962, plans to step down in July 2026.
“I have been delighted to make Buffalo my home, proud to call UB my academic home and honored to serve as UB’s president,” Tripathi said in a Sept. 16 email to students, faculty and staff.
Tripathi, who will return to his faculty role in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences next fall, said he had been contemplating the decision for several months and expressed confidence that he is stepping down from the presidency with UB positioned for even greater success.
“There are many reasons to celebrate our shared accomplishments,” he wrote. “What is perhaps most gratifying is that, through every chapter and challenge, we have held fast to our university mission and values.”
Tripathi joined UB as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs in 2004 after serving as dean of the Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California, Riverside, for seven years.
He was appointed UB’s 15th president on April 18, 2011, becoming the university’s first international-born president.
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As president, Tripathi is credited with leading UB through a transformative era of productivity and progress, and for his sure and steady leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic and other periods of unease and distress precipitated by local, national and international events.
During his tenure, Tripathi has extended the university’s local and global reach by increasing its contributions to society’s grand challenges, according to a university release.
His presidency is marked by impressive growth in the university’s research portfolio and sponsored research expenditures, a dramatically enhanced and innovative educational experience for undergraduate and graduate students, and more extensive engagement with the region and world.
Together, these achievements have significantly elevated UB’s stature as a premier public research university. From 2010 to 2024, UB rose 22 spots in the U.S. News & World Report rankings among U.S. public universities and, in the same period, 44 spots among U.S. public and private universities. UB achieved further distinction in 2022 when Gov. Kathy Hochul designated it a New York State flagship institution.
As the first Indian-born president of a university in the Association of American Universities, Tripathi has played a prominent role in burnishing UB’s reputation as a leading global institution of higher education.
To that end, he formalized partnerships to foster research collaboration and student exchanges with 31 institutions around the world, bringing the total number of such alliances to 95 in 34 countries.
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In 2022, Tripathi brought the leaders of universities across India to UB to sign a historic agreement to collaborate on research in nanotechnology, biotechnology and photonics, among other fields.
Throughout Tripathi’s presidency, UB has consistently ranked in the top 30 U.S. universities for hosting international students. Today, UB is the academic home to undergraduate and graduate students from more than 100 countries around the globe.
Tripathi has received numerous commendations for his professional accomplishments, including honorary degrees from Maharaja Surajmal Brij University in India, the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, and Brock University in Canada. He also received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Banaras Hindu University, where he had received his undergraduate degree.
In 2024, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Tripathi co-chairs the Association of American Universities (AAU) Task Force on Expanding U.S.-India University Partnerships and serves on the College Football Playoff Board of Managers and the board of the University Innovation Alliance.